The University of Idaho is one step closer to its affiliation with the University of Phoenix.
The Four Three Education Inc. acquisition was brought to a standstill by an open meetings lawsuit brought against the Idaho State Board of Education by the state’s attorney general, Raul Labrador. Ada County District Court Judge Jason Scott said that Labrador failed to prove that UI’s Board of Regents violated the state’s open meeting laws in the Jan. 30 dismissal.
The nearly $700 million deal has run into controversy and speculation since its announcement in May of last year. The University of Phoenix brings false advertisement claims and is seemingly rifled from multiple settlements. However, this ruling clears some of the lingering dissension.
Labrador argued that conversations surrounding the acquisition by the not-for-profit Four Three Education Inc. to secure the Phoenix affiliation were not transparently disclosed. This dismissal confirms that UI had reason to believe they competed with other governing bodies for the private university, namely the University of Arkansas. Because of this suspected competition, particular open meeting laws can be disregarded.
The trial, which took place from Jan. 22-25 of this year, had been one of the biggest roadblocks on UI’s path to completing the affiliation. But with this decision, UI Executive Director of Communications Jodi Walker said the deal should be closed this spring, hopefully in April.
Although the two universities will be affiliated through Four Three Education Inc., day-to-day structure for Vandals won’t see any change, Walker said.
“Our goals and intentions have always been for there to be no direct negative effect on students,” Walker said. “Day to day for students will be the exact same the day after the deal closes.”
The affiliation will bring in more than $20 million annually to UI, funds that will be used to combat the looming 2025 enrollment cliff. University leaders hope this extra revenue will help prevent rising costs in areas such as student tuition, a step many other universities are taking to fight off the cliff.
Along with the Jan. 30 ruling, UI’s accreditors, Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, said that “this transaction ‘does not constitute a change in governance, legal status, form of control or institutional mission of the University of Idaho,” according to a Feb. 13 memo written by President Scott Green.
With this statement from the NWCCU, no further action or approval needs to be taken by the accreditors, the memo said.
“Both decisions are welcome and the result of many people’s diligent work,” Green said in the memo.
Joanna Hayes can be reached at [email protected]